Music at A&P

Sacred music in the heart of our city

If you are passionate about choral and instrumental sacred music, The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul is your home. Under the leadership of Conductor Léa Moisan-Perrier and Interim Director of Music Stephanie Manias, every Sunday morning from 10:45 a.m. is an important musical moment. The Choir of The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul is among Canada’s most celebrated choral ensembles and sings every Sunday and at many other concerts and special services throughout the year. The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul is a multicultural Presbyterian congregation in Montreal, at Bishop and Sherbrooke Streets. All are welcome! Our services are also streamed live on YouTube.

The Music Department is excited to announce that we are launching a newsletter for all music lovers! Follow the link here or email apmusicloversnews@gmail.com to get exclusive news and information on your favorite musicians.


Upcoming Events

Browse our Recordings

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Lux
Requiem CD
A New Heaven CD

The Choir

The Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul

The Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul is one of Canada’s most advanced choral ensembles. Led by conductor Léa Moisan-Perrier, the hybrid professional and volunteer choir includes some of the finest singers from the greater Montreal area. Current members and alumni of the Choir include professional choristers, opera singers, instrumentalists, and conductors. The Choir offers a collegial, fast-paced environment in which to experience great choral music within a vibrant, welcoming church community. The ensemble, known for its warm sound and clarity of texture, is acclaimed for its innovative programming and diversity of styles. The Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul can be heard on several recordings, including LUX (ATMA, 2017), REQUIEM (ATMA, 2018) and DISTANCE (ATMA 2021).

Auditions

Please check back in Spring 2025 for announcements about our next professional auditions. New volunteer auditions will take place in August 2025.




The Organ

The organ of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul was built in 1931 by the renowned Casavant Frères of Ste. Hyacinthe, as that firm's opus #1457. It is one of the largest instruments on the island of Montreal, containing nearly 7,000 pipes. About 70% of the pipes are located in the chancel; the other pipes speak from the rear gallery. Only the Trompette en chamade (installed in 1992) is visible, mounted prominently below the Black Watch window.

The instrument was cleaned and overhauled by Casavant in 1976-77, and several stops and a new console were added by Caron, Gagnon, Baumgarten in 1992. The tonal work of these rebuilds lent the instrument a neo-baroque flavour, but was unfortunately of uneven technical and musical quality. The console was rebuilt by Casavant in 2001. A gradual tonal renovation of the organ has been ongoing since 2010, whose goal is to replace the 1970s and 1990s-era neo-classical stops with pipework of the early 20th century, of superior material and tonal quality. Like all of the Casavant instruments built between ca. 1890 and 1960, op. 1457 was conceived in the late-Romantic Anglo-American style, and remains a monumental essay in the genre.

The tonal design of the instrument was conceived for the playing of orchestral transcriptions and orchestrally-inspired solo repertoire and accompaniments; the Wagnerian orchestra, with its kaleidoscopic yet seamless colour changes, was the aesthetic ideal for many organists of the period.

Fast Facts
  • Built in 1932 by Casavant Fréres Ltée, Opus 1457
  • Rebuilt in 1977 (Casavant) and 1992 (Caron-Gagnon-Baumgarten Inc.)
  • New Main Console, and addition of a 3-manual Tower Console in 2001 (Casavant)
  • Ongoing restoration with vintage pipework, 2009-present
  • Main Organ: 4 manuals, 87 stops, 80 ranks
  • Tower Organ 2 manual, 26 stops, 30 ranks
  • Total: 113 stops, 110 ranks

Console of the 7,000-pipe Casavant organ, built in 1931.

Music Staff

Interim Director of Music & Choir Manager

Stephanie Manias

Known for her lush voice, dramatic artistry, and flexibility among many different genres of music, soprano Stephanie Manias is a frequent performer in the greater Montréal area. She is heard regularly as a soloist and chorister in some of Canada's most celebrated ensembles, such as Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montreal (SMAM), Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM), and La Chapelle de Québec with Les Violons du Roy. A member of the choir of The Church of St Andrew and St Paul for over ten years, Stephanie has held the position of Head Chorister since 2016. She has been a featured soloist in A&P’s productions of major masterworks by Bach, Handel and Mozart, as well as in its annual CBC Christmas Sing-In. Originally from London, Ontario, Stephanie is a graduate of the Voice Performance program at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, where she studied with Canadian soprano Joanne Kolomyjec.

Choir Conductor

Léa Moisan-Perrier

Léa Moisan-Perrier, Artistic Director and Conductor of Orchestre symphonique de l'Estuaire, is distinguished by her energy on stage and her skills as a communicator. In recent years, she has been invited to conduct numerous ensembles, including Orchestre symphonique de Laval, Orchestre classique de Montréal and Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke. Her career also features significant collaborations as an assistant conductor, notably alongside Jacques Lacombe at the Opéra National du Rhin in 2018 and Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre métropolitain (OM) for the 2024 summer season. Dedicated to her pursuit of excellence, she participates in numerous master classes, including with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Rafael Payare in spring 2024. She is also mentored by Yannick Nézet-Séguin as a part of OM Academy since fall 2023. In addition to her orchestral endeavors, Moisan-Perrier has an accomplished career as a choral conductor. Since 2022, she serves as the Choir Director and Conductor of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul. She was the Artistic Director of the Chœur des enfants de Montréal from 2017 to 2023 and the founder and Artistic Director of the choir Les Voix parallèles until May 2022. Moisan-Perrier holds a master's degree in orchestra conducting from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, where she studied under Jacques Lacombe and Jean-Marie Zeitouni, graduating in the spring of 2023. She is also a trained pianist, singer, and choral conductor, with a bachelor’s degree in piano from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, a master's degree in choral conducting from the Université de Sherbrooke, and a bachelor's degree in classical singing from the Université de Montréal. Her accolades include a scholarship of excellence from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal in 2022, the Moulin Seigneurial scholarship in 2016, and the Iwan Edwards Prize in 2017.